Barrel engine



Jan. 29, 1952 E s HALL 2,583,564

BARREL ENGINE Filed Aug. 19, 1948 s Sheets-Sheet 1 llwenlok,

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E. S. HALL BARREL ENGINE Jan. 29, 1952 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Aug. 19, 1948 INVENTOR. @5724 E. S. HALL BARREL ENGINE Jan. 29, 1952 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Aug. 19, 1948 INVENTOR.

Patented Jan. 29, 1952 2,583,564 BARREL ENGINE Edwin S'-. Hall, Farmington, Conn.

Application August 19, 1948, Serial No. 45,060

20 Claims.

This invention relates to barrel engines, the class having cylinders parallel to the shaft. Its broad object is to provide an engine capable of delivering more power from less engine bulk and weight.

An object of the invention is to provide an engine ofsimple construction comprising essentially fixed parts held together by thru-bolts, a single set of reciprocating members or recipers, a rotatable shaft assembly including a pair of rotors which handle the breathing of the engine, and mechanism ,for the interconversion of reciprocatlon and rotation. A particular object is to construct the essential fixed parts of the engine as two pairsof frame members and two sets of fixed liquid-cooled pistons held together by thrubolts. Another object is to provide simple recipers each comprising essentially a crosshead portion and a pair of cylinder members. Another object is to provide a rotatable assembly with the conversion mechanism mounted on its own bearings and splined to the rotors which handle the.

breathing of'the engine while carrying the torque out or the engine, the splined joints taking care of alignment without trouble from rotor distortion.

Another object is to provide a flying-cylinder engine having fixed liquid-cooled pistons, the cylinder walls serving as annular blower pistons to furnish supercharge air for the working cylinders. Another object is to provide, in a barrel type twostroke engine, a rotary assembly including a rotor provided with passages and ports which aid and control the breathing of the engine and its blower. Another object is to provide a two-stroke diesel engine in which the fuel injectors may be located in fixed liquid-cooled pistons, easily accessible and injecting into chambers of excellent form.

An important object of the invention is to provide a ported two-stroke internal combustion engi'ne, without any valves, which can be highly supercharged. the supercharge air entering thru the exhaust ports after the air ports have closed.

Another object is to provide a two-stroke barrel engine in which the same recipers which serve the working cylinders serve also the blower cylinders which provide the air forsupercharging the work ing cylinders.

Another important object is to provide, in a two-stroke barrel engine, an exhaust system by which the blow-down from one cylinder scavenges and charges with free air thepreceding cylinder in order of firing. Another object is to provide for supercharging the next preceding cylinder thru its exhaust ports after its free air ports have 2 closed. Another object is to provide, in a barrel engine, a rotor as a simple steel casting, finished only on its ends and cylindricalexterior, designed with such passages and ports as to care for the breathing of the working and blower cylinders which surround it.

It is thus apparent that an overall objector this invention is to use the principle of multiple function for every possible piece of a barrel engine, and thus to provide a supercharged twostroke engine, its reeipers essentially .double=acting and providing both working cylinders and blower pistons by which to supercharge the working cylinders, an engine ported, valveless, the entire breathing of engine and blower cared for by a pair of cylindrical rotors running with clearance within the cylinder blocks-an extremely simple engine, capable of attaining a new order of performance, for example: 1 B. H. P. from less than 1 lb. ofweight at a cost, in quantity production, less than $1 (provided the dollar recovers some of its value lost by inflation).

These and other features and objects of the invention will be understood from the following description in connection with the drawings in which Fig. 1 is a longitudinal section of the invention taken on the lines I| of Figs. 5 and 3. (The left rotor of Fig. 1 is shown about 60 out of time relative to the recipers, for clearness in describing the breathing system.)

Fig. 5 is a transverse section taken substantially on the line 55 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a transverse section taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a transverse section taken on the line 3--3 of Fig. 1. r

Fig. 2 isan end view oi the engine, partly in section on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Referring to the drawings, the barrel-shaped body of the engine is mounted in half-journal bearings formed in base 8 and closed in by cover 9, as. illustrated more fully in my, Patent No. 2,471,428, issued May 31, 1949. Inner frame members In operably support the conversion mechanism and inner main bearings H are secured in inner frame members It. Outer .frame members l2 are provided with suitable passages and jackets for coolant. Oil drainage chambers 13 are formed between inner frame members It and outer frame members I2. A pair of exhaust collectors I4 are added to outer frame members 55 are all held together by thru-bolts [8. Fuel inpistons 6. Exhaustports 24 are higher than free air ports 23, to'open earlier and close later than air ports/23.

Recipers 20 are operably connected to the rotatable shaft assembly by means of a starplate mechanism 30 which, as shown, is the familiar Almen type described in many patents and applications, for example: in PatentNo. 2,303,838 or in my copending application Ser. No. 581,768, filed March 9, 1945, and now abandoned. It is understood that any suitable mechanism may be used in this engine for the interconversion of reciprocation and rotation.- The simplest mechanism, as shown in my copending application, Ser. No. 38,224, filed 'July' 12, 1948, now Patent Number 2,498,679 issued February 28, 1950, is preferred. V

Starplate 30 is operable with fluid film lubrication between two slants 33 of the rotatable assembly. Slants 33 are dowelled together and to journals 34 which are operable in bearings H. Slants 33 and journals 34 are held together as a rotatable unit by thru-bolt 35 and nuts 36.

Spur gear teeth'31 formed on the outer ends of journals 34 serve as involute splines in mesh with internal gears 38 suitably fastened to rotors 40 which serve to handle the breathing of v the engine.

Stub shafts 39 are suitably fastened to rotors 40 and are operable in self-aligning ball bearings l supported by exhaust collectors l4. Oneders 26 may pass thru ports 42 and rotor pas sages 43 and ports 55 into working cylinders 2| thru exhaust ports 24.

When exhaust ports 24 first open, the exhaust blows out thru ports 24 and 55 into ejector noz-,

zle 45 in rotor 40, from thence into throat 46, producing high suction thru passage-41 which opens from ports 55 and 24 of the preceding cylinder, as shown in Fig. 5. Throat 46 discharges into exhaust passage 48 of collector l4. At the same time, the next preceding cylinder 2| is'open for supercharging thru its ports 55 and 24.

Holes 60 thru the engine are congenient as passages foroil or coolant, or for fuel oil lines from one end of the engine to the other.

Each rotor 40 is a steel casting and may include a balancing mass as indicated at 49, the pair of balancing masses forming a centrifugal couple designed to balance the reciper inertia couple in a well-known manner. The rotating balancing masses could be carried by stub shafts 39 outside the outer main bearings l5, or the balancing masses might be distributed on both sides of outermain bearings l5.

l'he two rotors of any one engine must be rightand left-handed and the engine is not directly reversible (unless provided with rotors symmetrical and identical, designed especially for operation in both directions). However, the engine can be installed to operate either rightor left-handed, depending upon which end the drive is taken from, the accessories being arranged to correspond. Once the passages of each rotor 40 are correctly designed, the productionof the rotoris easy at low .cost, as a steel casting machinedv on the 'outside only, to run with close clearance in the space provided within the cylinder block. Use of the principle of multiple function provides an engine of high pertions.

formance with minimum bulk, weight, and cost.

In operation, rotation of the rotatable shaft assembly is accompanied by reciprocation of the recipers' thru the interconnection of the starplate mechanism in a well-known manner. At each end of the engine, as exhaust ports 24 open, the blow-down of high-pressure exhaust gas at high velocity thru nozzle 45 produces suction thru passage 41 and ports 55 and 24 of the preceding cylinder, as shown in Fig. 5, to scavenge that cylinder and charge it with free air thru its ports 23 as its reciper goes past bottom center, the air reaching ports 23 thru chambers 52 and ports 50. At the same time, another cylinder volume of air at about one atmosphere gage pressure is entering the next preceding cylinder 2| thru its exhaust ports 24, the supercharge air being fed from blower cylinders 26 thru ports 42 and passage 43 and ports 55. The air for blower cylinders 23 has come in thru ports 50, passages 54 and 4|, and ports 42. 7

Thus it is seen that the single set of recipers each comprising a crosshea d and a pair of cylinders 2|, provides not only the working cylinders 2| of the engine, but the blower pistons 25; and that all of the breathing functions of both working and blower cylinders are handled by the ports and passages in frame members 2 and rotors 40, without any valves 'or other complica- With the working cylinders scavenged and charged with free air by the exhaust effect of the following cylinder, and with another atmosphere or volume of air added thru its ex-l haust ports after its free air ports are closed,

each cylinder 2| may be supercharged to permit compression ignition with a nominal compression ratio of about 8 to 1. At once we are given the prospect of almost twice as much power from the working piston displacement as.

in other two-stroke engines. Fuel injection may be handled in the usual manner with direct injection into an open combustion chamber of unusually excellent form and toroidal turbulence.

Having thus described the invention, it is obvious that the objects thereof, as stated, have all been attained. While a single embodiment of the invention has been shown and described, it is understood that changes may be made in 5 wall of each 01 said cylinders as an annular piston.

'2. A'ported two-stroke internal combustion englue comprising fixed pistons, reciprocating working cylinders having free air ports and exhaust ports, means for scavenging said working cylinders and charging them with free air thru said free air ports, and means for supercharging said working cylinders thru said exhaust ports after der to scavenge the preceding cylinder in firing order and charge it with free air thru its free air ports, and means for supercharging the next preceding cylinder thru its exhaust ports after its free air ports have closed.

4. In a barrelengine, fixed liquid-cooled pistons, annular cylinders surrounding said pistons;

reciprocating members each including a working cylinder having an integral cylinder head and a ported skirt as an annular piston received by and operable within one of said annular cylinders, each said working cylinder having exhaust ports, and means for transferring air from said annular cylinders to said working cylinders thru said exhaust ports.

5. In a barrel engine, fixed liquid-cooled pistons, annular cylinders surrounding said pistons, reciprocating members each including a working cylinder having an integral cylinder head and a ported skirt as an annular piston received by and operable within one of said annular cylinders, each said working cylinder having free air ports and exhaust ports, means for scavenging said working cylinders and charging them with free air thru said free air ports, and means for supercharging said working cylinders thru said exhaust ports after said free air ports have closed with supercharge air from said annular cylinders.

6. In a barrel engine, fixed liquid-cooled pistons, annular cylinders surrounding said pistons, reciprocating members each including a working cylinder having a skirt as an annular piston operable within one of said annular cylinders, each said working cylinder having free air ports and exhaust ports, means for using the blow-down ei- Iect of the exhaust from one cylinder to scavenge the preceding cylinder in firing order and charge it with free air thru its free air ports, and means for supercharging the next preceding cylinder thru its exhaust ports after the free air ports have closed by transferring air from said annular cylinders.

7. A two-stroke barrel engine comprising fixed members including liquid-cooled pistons, recipers each including a ported cylinder operably receiving one of said pistons, exhaust ports and free air ports in said cylinder, and a rotatable assembly including a rotor, a single exhaust passage in said rotor to handle the exhaust from all of the cylinders surrounding said rotor, air passages in said rotor, and means operably connecting said recipers with said rotatable assembly.

8. A two-stroke barrel engine comprising fixed members including liquid-cooled pistons, annular cylinders surrounding said fixed pistons, recipers each including a ported working cylinder operably receiving one of said pistons and constructed as an annular blower piston within one of said annular cylinders, and a rotatable assembly including a rotor designed to handle the breathing of said working cylinders and annular blower cylinders, in combination withmea'n's operable conmeeting said recipers with said rotatable assem bly. I

9. A barrel engine as claimed in claim 7, the single exhaust passage in said rotor formed as an ejector whereby the blow-down effect of the exhaust from one cylinder may scavenge and charge another cylinder with free air.

10. A barrel engine as claimed in claim 8, with ejector passages in said rotor by which the blow! down effect of the exhaust from one working cylinder may scavenge and charge another cylinder with free air while supercharge air from said annular blower cylinders is led to another one o said working cylinders.

11. A two-stroke barrel engine comprising fixed members including liquid-cooled pistons, annular cylinderssurrounding said fixed pistons, recipers each including a ported working cylinder operably receiving one of said pistonsand constructed as an annular blower piston within one of said annular cylinders, free air ports and exhaust ports in the walls of each working cylinder, and a rotatable assembly operably supporting means for the interconversion of reciprocation and rotation,"

and including a rotor designed to handle the breathing of said working cylinders and annular blower cylinders.

12. A barrel engine as claimed in claim 11, and ejector passages in said rotor by which the blowdown effect of the exhaust from one working cylinder may scavenge and charge another cylinder with free air thru its free air ports while leading supercharge air from said annular blower cylinders to another one of said working cylinders thru its exhaust ports.

13. A twostroke barrel engine comprising fixed members including liquid-cooled pistons, thru-bolts holding said fixed members together, recipers operable in said fixed members and including working cylinders receiving said pistons, a rotatable assembly including a rotor designed to take care of the breathing of said engine, and a mechanism for the interconversion of the reciprocation of said recipers and the rotation of said rotatable assembly.

14. In a two-stroke barrel engine having cylin-. ders parallel to its principal axis, a rotatable assembly including a rotor, an ejector passage formed in said rotor to receive the exhaust from said cylinders, and air passages formed in said rotor leading to and from said cylinders.

15. In a two-stroke barrel engine having cylindrical crosshead guides parallel to its principal axis, reciprocating cylinder members operable in said guides, a rotatable assembly including a rotor, an exhaust passage formed in said rotor to receive the exhaust from said cylinder members, and mechanism operably connecting said reciprocating cylinder members and said rotatable assembly.

16. In a twostroke barrel engine having cylinders parallel to its principal axis, free air ports and exhaust ports in said cylinders, and a rotatable assembly including a rotor, an ejector passage formed in said rotor to receive the exhaust from said cylinders, an air passage formed in said rotor for inducing the scavenge and charging of said cylinders thru their free air ports, and another air passage in said rotor for supercharging said cylinders thru their exhaust ports.

17. In a two-stroke barrel engine having cylinders parallel to its principal axis, fixed parts of said engine, inner main bearings and outer main bearings supported in said fixed parts in said engine, arotatable assembly including a solid assembly operable in said inner main bearings and a rotor assembly splined to each end of said solid assembly and operable in said outer main bearings. V v

18. In a two-stroke barrel engine having cyling ders parallel to its principal axis, fixed parts of, said engine, inner main bearings and outer main bearings supported in said fixed parts of said engine, and a rotatable assembly including a solid assembly operable in said inner main bearings and including a pair of slant members and a pair of journals and a thru-bolt, and a rotor assembly splined to each end of said solid assembly and operable in said outer main bearings and including a rotor designed to take care of the breathing of said cylinders.

19. In a barrel engine, an inner pair of frame members, an outer pair of frame members, piston members secured in said outer pair of frame members, annular cylinders surrounding said pis ton members,-reciprocating cylinder-s operable in of said outer frame members, air passages formed in said rotor, and air passages in said outer frame;

members leading to said free air portsand thru said rotor air passages to and from said annular cylinders and said exhaust ports. r

20. In a barrel engine having cylinders parallel tion to said parallel cylinders and the holes for:

said thru-bolts.

EDWINSHALL .f

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record inlthe file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PA'I'ENTS Number Name Date] 1,300,098 Almen Apr. 8, 1919 1,413,363 Smith et al Apr. 18, 1922 1,677,305 Sperry July 17,1928 2,131,957 Kadenacy Oct. 4, 1938 

